On this week's episode of the Kenai Conversation, we're joined by Maggie Winston to talk about ongoing efforts to expand self-directed care in Alaska and Disability Pride.

Derek Berry, 39, was reported missing by family members in early May.

The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is looking into the death of man reported missing from Soldotna last month. The Blood Bank of Alaska reports its worst blood shortage in at least 15 years. A gubernatorial candidate proposes ending the Permanent Fund dividend program in favor of a one-time $10,000 payout per Alaskan. Plus, a cruise line partners with a whale advocacy group while sailing in Alaska this summer.

Stream Watch was started in the mid-1990s by a group of fishermen intent on protecting the Kenai Peninsula’s salmon habitats. The program is jointly run by the Kenai Watershed Forum and the U.S. Forest Service and has an overarching goal of promoting watershed stewardship.

A seasonal mountaineering ranger dies after falling into a crevasse in Denali National Park and Preserve. Alaska's State Board of Education approves a Master's in teaching program for Indigenous languages. Plus, new and existing volunteers with the Kenai Watershed Forum's Stream Watch program attend an orientation in Cooper Landing.

A bill affirming Alaska Natives' right to sell art made from marine mammals heads to President Donald Trump's desk. In Fairbanks, supporters of the Alaska LNG Project rally around high energy prices. Plus, friends and colleagues remember longtime Kenai Peninsula College Director Gary Turner.

More than 100 attendees gathered on May 31 to celebrate the life of Kenai Peninsula College’s longest serving director, Gary Turner, who died in April. Speakers celebrated Turner as a champion for the college and its students and staff.

Council members added roughly a quarter of a million dollars in one-time spending during their Wednesday meeting.

Kenai City Council members pass the city's budget. Developers of the Alaska LNG Project release the project's first detailed public cost estimates. Plus, Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich III are quiet on two of President Donald Trump's two controversial priorities.

The borough budget designates money for local schools, road work, borough landfills, service areas and government operations, among other things.